And if, as I said, it was necessary that the people of Israel should b… — The Prince

The Prince — Niccolò Machiavelli

And if, as I said, it was necessary that the people of Israel should be captive so as to make manifest the ability of Moses; that the Persians should be oppressed by the Medes so as to discover the greatness of the soul of Cyrus; and that the Athenians should be dispersed to illustrate the capabilities of Theseus: then at the present time, in order to discover the virtue of an Italian spirit, it was necessary that Italy should be reduced to the extremity that she is now in, that she should be more enslaved than the Hebrews, more oppressed than the Persians, more scattered than the Athenians; without head, without order, beaten, despoiled, torn, overrun; and to have endured every kind of desolation.

Место: CHAPTER XXIV -- WHY THE PRINCES OF ITALY HAVE LOST THEIR STATES · ¶300
Лицензия: Public domain · Источник
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